Well, it has definitely been a while since I wrote my blog on here ;) Is nice to be back…
Once we got back in San Diego the days just flew by!
Hmm what have we been up to?? Well what haven’t we…
after Johns surgery we obviously had to take it really easy for a few weeks. There was a local fair going on in Del Mar, so we reserved John an electrical scooter to go round on, grabbed the nieces and nephews and headed out for the day. It was so fun, we went on some crazy rides, I ate some American style carnival foods (some strange things compared to what im used to! Large pickles for example, even though I call them gherkins but every laughs at me when I do L . there was a stool there which carved real wood plaques for people houses. He was a huge fan of Johns so had one made up for us for cheap, its so awesome, we have it in our backyard…
A few days before Laguna Me, John and his good friend Klint went to Alcatraz! I have always wanted to check it out as I was always fascinated by strange documentaries like that. I’ve seen too many docs on it so I was completely engulfed in the facts and pictures on the walls…. If you haven’t been, you should check it out if you find that stuff interesting.
.. On the boat over there...
Escape from Alcatraz movie story line....Dummy heads.
Being goofy...
Every has to do the cheesy things ;)
Laguna was fun times…. We had Johns family go up with us, so while John was in the garage helping the riders with as much advice as he could, I was finally doing the big fan thing for the day and sat up in the hills, on the grass with kettle corn, cotton candy ;) and air horns going off around me. Was perfect!
I absolutely love going to Laguna, everyone is just so pleasant and respectful to the riders and they had such encouraging & inspiring words to say to John. John received a gift from a fan called Chris, it was absolutely awesome and must have taken so much time and effort. It was a ‘very professional’ photo frame which had pictures of Johns biggest fans, friends and Family. Thanks so much again for that Chris, it is going up on our wall for sure :D
That weekend we also celebrated Anthony big birthday! The team organized it in the bar with everyone there and tons of chocolate birthday cake. Johns family are competitive like him so it was fun playing pool with his sisters….
John & sis Susanne.
John, Ben, Jakey, Ant.
Birthday Boy.
We left the Monday after the race as my Family were getting in Monday evening. It was so nice to see them, we drank tea and chatted till sunrise I swear ! It was good for them to leave rainy England for a few weeks and wake up to the sunshine. Even though my dad and John found this in our yard, two of them actually!
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So the family’s 2 week holiday wasn’t really a relaxing vacation, it was more of an adventurous one. They went fishing, sea world, San Diego zoo, shopping, softball, X-games and we all celebrated my 22nd Birthday with a Hawaiian theme garden partaay!! We had mechanical bull, sumo suit’s the lot. Obviously John couldn’t join in too much fun as he was in recovery L so he happily took on the roll of barman and accidentally over filling peoples drinks ;)
John gave his Trainer too much Bacardi ;)
Bonsey keeping it cool...
mom & paps
good times
the barman....
Niece Desiree getting wild...
Us 4 girls...Ha-Ha
One of my favorite days was in the bay with Johns new Kawasaki Jet ski!! It is ridiculous, even he said the thing shouldn’t even be legal… once he got out onto the glassy flat ocean I believe they got it up to 65-70mph. I took the girls out on the back with me and we were jumping the waves, it was so funny as they nearly burst my eardrum with their screams ;) good times.
We had an inner tube with us that day too, John couldn’t ride of course so he got to pull everyone all day. Which I know he totally wanted that position! “having people in the palms of his hands” the job role suited his wild side perfectly.
As you could imagine he didn’t go slow and had everyone whipped off or hurt at one point in the day! One lady ‘Michelle’ had the whole side of leg turn black and blue from bruises, ouch! You are only aloud one person at a time to be pulled, so the best was when all 4of us girls held on for dear life at the same time, seeing each of us drop of like flies is hysterical :D ha-ha especially if you’re the last one standing.
...John,Me & my lil sis...
soo much fun :D
Gosh, now I think about it our break went by soo fast! It feels like we left the track just yesterday and we are back already. To be honest, I was looking forward to being busy again and seeing John back on the bike.
The flight over went pretty well too. We flew Lufthansa to Munich, Munich -Vienna. We flew over Kansas on the way and came right by a storm brewing. It seemed and arms length away, an average of 5 or so miles. To be honest, I think it was the coolest thing I have ever seen, I am always sat by the window out of us 2 so I was nose to it. It was a HUGE black swirling cloud that had lighting going through every other second and lighting up the sky. was so crazy.
We watched a pretty good movie too, I think its called ‘the Bank job” with the rockin actor Jason Statham. We love the movie ‘Crank’ so knew it would be good if it had him and his cockney accent in it J
So At the moment I am sat in Kawasaki hospitality, it is Friday and absolutely pouring down with rain! We arrived here on Wednesday evening and enjoyed the beautiful warm weather on Thursday.
The weather channel did mention that rain was coming and be prepared. We were lucky though as it just began once second practice was over. Practice this morning went ok, 3rd lap in John placed a good time with holding 3rd position on the times for most part. He did crash but he was absolutely fine and didn’t hurt himself, he just lost the front as the track has been resurfaced so I believe it’s a little slick. He felt good about the bike, which was a relief J practice this afternoon started a little sketchy with another crash from John, but to be honest he wasn’t the only one, a lot of them seemed to be making some mistakes or literally just coming off the track. No one hurt themselves though, including John. He jumped on the other bike and went back out there
I guess Nicky isn’t going to be riding this weekend as he has injured himself, I believe its his ankle he has broke. We were actually at X-Games when he was due to come out for Super MOTO but noticed he wasn’t on the track during the race. No one mentioned anything of it but John found it strange because normally contracts don’t allow for one to take part in other events like this. John experienced something very similar along the way and had the same outcome. Eek, not good ;)
So at this moment in time, I am enjoying a coffee, listening to the heavy rain hitting the roof very loudly and John is relaxing in the motor home watching some TV.
Earlier this afternoon me and John were walking back to the motor home when we had Jorje Lorenzo come whizzing by on his scooter. He saw John and stopped and gave his regards and asked of Johns injury and how he is doing. John replied with concerns on Jorje’s well being and then he whizzed off again. I guess that not doing so well brought Jorje back down to reality and he is being a little nicer and realizing every has ups and downs, funny.
Ashleigh J
*SATURDAY:*
I am so happy with how today went! It means more to me that this result will now give John back the confidence and excitement. He needed this little boost :D
The day started well, John woke up with a good nights sleep and had his usual breakfast. Im surprised he slept so well as the rain was torrential. Along with being in a motor home and thunder booming every other minute it was pretty bad. I woke up due to jet lag and was watching it outside my window (I do love it though )
So as you could imagine the track was pretty wet to say the least. The morning session went well though with John coming 6th in the times and Anthony 10th.
In qualifying John, Valentino and Casey put in a good time in the beginning , so as the rain came down a little stronger by the minute the other riders found it a little hard placing a time close to theirs. Worked out all good.
After qualifying John had to go to do press releases, a few interviews and then go for a meeting with the safety commission along with the other riders.
I didn’t see him up until 7.30 or so for dinner. Every race weekend John likes us all to eat with Alpinestars hospitality, so we grabbed a table and some starters. It was funny because we got on a subject of running races and we were jokingly making bets of who would win between Johns Manager Bob ( 41years old, x motocross racer, doesn’t train, around 165lbs) or Jakey Jake (paddock joker, 23years old, around 185lbs, and doesn’t train)!! John put money on his manager as he is a lot slimmer and was feeling cocky about the whole situation. I had my money on Jake as I have seen him sprint and he is pretty good.
Well Casey and his wife came in and joined the conversation. After all the bickering and more people getting involved, about 30 of us went out side and settled it. Casey was on his scooter to start the 100ft race and ride beside them, with John at the finish line making the final decision….. Well… Jake won it!! Everyone lost their bets and Bob felt pretty down, it was funny!
So anyway, like most evenings we are sat chilling tonight, the old movie ’escape from Alcatraz’ is coming on so im going to sit back and enjoy it. If anyone likes this movie or ones like this, check out ’Shawshank redemption’ its one of my favorites.
Ciao.
Ashleigh J
.....*SUNDAY:*......
Okay, so its 11.30am Sunday right now, John is doing ‘meet & greet’ here in hospitality with a handful of fans. He has to do this every Sunday after morning practice, sometimes you have no one come and he’ll wait for half an hour, then the days that he will be late or not attend, there will be a million guests, isn’t that always the way!
So today, practice didn’t go so well on paper as John did crash half way through. I believe it was the second to last corner where he had come across the paint which was still slightly damp, which had him lose the front. Luckily enough he wasn’t hurt and his confidence didn’t seem dented, he just came back in the garage and got on the 2nd bike, so that was a relief, that would be the LAST thing we need, another injury L
He managed to place a good time with 7minutes or so to go, he was up in 5th, but then was pushed down a few places. I must admit, I find it absolutely ludicrous that Rossi and Casey are up in the 1’57’s while all the other riders are busting their ass’s and putting in times of 1’59’s. it wasn’t even close either! I think Casey’s time was 1’57.3 and Rossi best lap of practice was 1’57.6. No rider was even in the 1’58’s! it was the same thing with practice yesterday, the two of them had a ridiculous lead over everyone, pfft I don’t know, its crazy!…..
So anyway, once he sat down with his crew chief he was relaying information and seemed happy with the bike and was positive he could’ve been up there in top 3, so he is definitely in no doubt, and has faith in himself and the machine.
This morning was pretty funny, before John went out , all the mechanics and team had t-shirts made of Johnny Louch (Johns trainer). Well, Louch has sooooo many similarities to Johnny Bravo, the cartoon character, so they had the media guys superimpose Louch’s head on Johnny Bravo’s buff body and make t-shirts for everyone! It made it funny because it was so true and look exact
At this moment im in hospitality, sipping on green tea watching the other races. I’m routing for Bonsey as he’s our little buddy, and Bradley Smith as he has just signed with the management company John is with, and he is a nice kid.
The weather is actually decent today! Its slight overcast but sunny and the chill isn’t as bad as it was yesterday. Hopefully it does them well this afternoon, well, John ;)
***Race***
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. I’ve had to give myself half an hour before even opening my laptop as I knew I would break something. It is so frustrating when something is fingertips away and you know it could’ve gone better but…but…but.. The big BUT word comes in. John experienced the problems in the last half of the race, So yep John was very frustrated, but hey, it has happened now, im just glad he didn’t crash or hurt himself.
I believe they were having some tire problems there.
It is crazy the emotional ups and downs of an athletes life, But all these riders must go through this, sometimes you are on top of the world then the next you feel like the worst thing in the world.
I believe he will get there though…….
He started so well like he usually does, and was heading for a good position for sure!!
The paddock is always a big gossip bowl, everyone was saying “who kicked who, who kicked who???”. Apparently, when the two Kawasaki Riders were side by side one of them kicked the other! Well, the true story is…. They came a little close and Anthony raised his leg to John to apologize, its racer code for “im sorry man”.
Anthony did well with coming in at 5th and Casey was leading until he crashed out. It made me a little mad because, as he crashed into the gravel, before he was even shown to be ok everyone started blowing horns and cheering and laughing that he came off. I know a lot may have been Rossi fans so it was great as he would now take lead, but it sucks for any rider and their team to take a tumble, especially when they are leading. I guess a lot of fans say he is unsociable and never signs autographs, he must be a completely different person outside his “game head” because me and John get on with him great, and he is always super friendly.
So after the race, once John came in the garage he just grabbed his scooter keys and took off. He chilled in the motor home and watched the boys on the podium, took his 15minutes to calm down and then showered.
I help out as much as I can, but what can you do??
He went off to speak with his team, I sat and listened for 20minutes for my own knowledge and curiosity then went to hospitality as it is the only place I can seem to get online.
Well, we are here testing for Monday and maybe Tuesday. If we get off early Johns wants to take me up to Salzburg, which is a beautiful town he used to live when he was a little younger. Shall be nice as I like the sound of music and it was filmed there J
Well, hope everyone is doing well & Speak soon,
Ashleigh J